The Best Days, by Yang Seung-woo

Yang Seung Woo is a former gangster of the Korean underworld. Now based in Japan as a photographer, The Best Days is a reflective book of photographs revealing his former life in the Korean Yakuza underworld, and the lives of his friends who remained and have risen through it’s ranks.

The Best Days

One of me old mates died
Actually he topped himself
But his dying changed now
The other lads will just forget him
I’ll forget him too
I looked for a photo so I could see his face
But there weren’t any
I thought he was me special mate
Sooner or later I’ll be gone too
It made me want to take photographs

Then I realised

We’re shit
But champions
As long as we live we’ll boast about this
What on earth were we thinking
But those days with the lads
And those days I spent wasting time
Were the best days of my life
His death showed me how to live
I should have realised sooner
Maybe its too late
Now though
My Youth, Act Two begins
A better life